


In Regeneratione;Papilionem

by Arrowbones



Category: Lobotomy Corporation (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Minor Character Death, Murder, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Unhappy Ending, Vomiting, this is not a happy story I don't want to tag everything god
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2019-10-17 18:49:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17566001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arrowbones/pseuds/Arrowbones
Summary: Asera finds himself at ends when he's assigned an abnormality more dangerous than any other at the facility. Joshua feels himself slipping away the more he begins to understand the meaning behind the madness.Two twins are assigned to abnormalities that will be their downfall.“In the end, wings are only given to those seeking eternal freedom. In the end, I will be the one to bring them home.”





	1. 01

**Author's Note:**

> This is Asera's side of the story “Papilionem”
> 
> Joshua's won't technically be this story, but there will be some points of both stories where the events will coincide, each story will have the thoughts and actions of both brothers brought to light. Joshua side is the “Diripiat”
> 
> !! THIS IS A LOBOTOMY CORPORATION ORIGINAL STORY. IF YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE GAME, YOU WILL BE FAMILIAR WITH THE HEAVY TOPICS PORTRAYED IN THIS STORY. THE TAGS SERVE AS A WARNING. !!

Maybe if he sat still, _really_ still and stared down at the floor without speaking a word, the people milling around him wouldn't pay attention or see his mental breakdown. The last thing he wanted right now was attention, or anybody calling out to him. He didn't want to lift his head up from where he stared at the floor intentely, vainly trying to block out everything around him.

Working for this company had been the worst mistake of his life so far.  
  
"The Facility," They had called it, after the representitive had screened his application, "has accepted you! Face the fear, build the future."  
  
Fat load of bullshit that had been. The pay had been good for a reason and Asera now knew why nobody ever seemed to know anything about this place, other than it was just some vague power plant that had been so revolutionary it had become one of the Wings of the World. 

Repression work seemed to be the one thing that he was slowly getting good at, the tasks the work brought became mindless to him, something easy to do. Whether that was because he was a “strong silent type that seemed to throw off Abnormalities” like his colleagues had told him jokingly as he passed them in the hallsc or the fact that he was just becoming used to the monstrosities he was forced to take care of; He couldn't tell.  
  
He pushed the latter option far out of his mind, not too fond of the implications behind it and instead focused on a weird multicolored stain on the ground next to his shoe. He'd been sitting on the couch in the back of the central room of the training department for a while now and despite the fact he was on call, he didn't look like he was ready for any action. He didn't feel like it, that's for sure. 

 _“You're not supposed to be here. Is the paycheck worth more than your life? Do you think so lowly of your future?”_  Insidious words of self-doubt bounced around in his skull, images of bloodstains and the chilling memories of echoed screaming followed by gunshots from other departments rang in his ears with each statement that embedded itself in his mind. His hands were incessantly shaking, partially caused by a wound inflicted in his wrist from a particularly mean attack from Punishing Bird and also from the stress of gripping his weapon too tightly. The metal of the rifle in his hands clattered slightly with the tremors, a small noise he so desperately hoped no passing clerks or agents could hear. Attention was the last thing he needed right now, for fear of his current state being taken for mental instability.

Everybody who works directly with Abnormalities is trained to know that their lives could end here— no, that they _will_ end here at the hands of these creatures if they're not careful. Employees and the higher-ups who'd worked this job longer than most usually had a less chance of meeting their untimely death at the hands of an Abnormality due to experience and constant vigilance. In a facility where your own reflexes and hard training is the only thing keeping you alive, luck and chance were something that you shouldn't count on to keep yourself alive. “Leave it to the manager” was a phrase he learned on his first day, commonly used in the training department when met with a question from a newbie that couldn't be easily answered.

Asera had only been there for a handful of days, and he felt like he was already cracking.

Even since he'd shown up, they'd been adding more and more Abnormalities to the facility, his department included. They only had one slot left for another abnormality and according to reports and rumors, it was something dangerous, more dangerous than anything that had been seen so far. According to his friend in the Security Team, an Abnormality had entered the facility of its own free will last night without being detected until it was too late.  
  
By the time the strike team had arrived, there'd been 17 deaths and the Abnormality had been extremely distressed to the point it had attacked anything that came near. The thought of meeting an Abnormality like that sent a chill fear through his spine. What would it look like? How big would it be, how many faces would it have and would it want to kill him, as a few abnormalities had already tried to do? He weighed the chances of surviving an Abnormality like that in his head, gnawing the skin off of his bottom lip in anxiety.

Asera had been too focused on the hypothetical battle waging between him and the raging beast of an Abnormality in his imagination to realize that somebody had crept up beside him and was leaning against his shoulder. A cup was brought into his field of vision, and he blinked a few times before releasing the death grip on his gun long enough to grab the coffee dangling in front of his face. It burned in his hands slightly and smelled freshly brewed, which was an accomplishment in a place like this. 

“....Sera.” The tone was blunt, somewhat monotone, familiar with undercurrents of teasing behind each word. “Are you getting lost in your own skull again?”

The first thought that reached his mind as tired grey eyes raised to meet nearly identical hazel ones half-lidded with amusement was that it wasn't _fair_ that Joshua was adapting to this job's lifestyle so easily.

They were both twins, born a few minutes apart and even though their mother and father would deny the order of birth to their graves, Asera always thought himself the elder of the two. They'd always been with each other thick and thin, choosing careers that suited both of their lifestyles and hobbies. They had a routine that included the other and they were inseparable creatures of habit, often taking their lunch breaks together and gossiping over breaks. Asera couldn't imagine life without him, nor did he ever want to. 

Joshua being his twin made them the only siblings in the department, earning them a shred of fame that he shied from but Joshua seemed to revel in with an air of smugness that only made Asera roll his eyes. Always the showoff, always the jokester and almost always the one who succeeded where he couldn't.  

They both sported matching crowns of thorns, having both trained with the Abnormality that most employees were assigned to upon entering the company at first; One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds. If an Abnormality liked you enough, they would give you a gift before parting ways. This was another thing that their colleagues seemed to think added onto their twin image but made him roll his eyes at. It wasn't like he could take it off either, it was taboo to remove a gift after recieving it. Save for sleeping, of course but even then sometimes he forgot.

The crown of thorns and the rose from the Beast were the most commonly seen gifts given upon trainees. He wasn't partial to either, but he heard the rose liked to prick when you least expected. At least you were always being pricked by the crown of thorns. No surprises there, thankfully. 

Blowing gently on the coffee Asera mumbled out a small thank you, still not confident enough to meet Joshua's prying gaze for long and bringing his attention back to a discolored spot on the floor. Knowing this place, it was probably left by a pool of somebody's blood or something worse. That was the thing about this place, the smell of chemicals and blood permeated everything, no matter how many times the place was chemically stripped and sprayed down. Coffee made it better but it never fully masked the smell of carrion and murder. it was almost hard to breathe in at times, the air almost oppressive. 

Joshua was always good at telling when Asera was unhappy, a talent that would always infuriate him because he usually always used it when it was most inconvenient.

It wasn't so much inconvenient right now as it was a circumstance where he didn't want to admit his faults to his prodigal brother who seemed to take to this job like he was made for it. They both shared the same apartment, and he knew the same fears that he felt plagued Joshua the same way it affected him if their talks over dinner were anything to go off of, but he was just better at hiding it and smoothing it over with a calm facade than Asera was.

Joshua nudged him, promptly jolting him back out of his thoughts once more. “I thought I told you to get out of that thick skull of yours.” His tone was joking, but concern coated his words, making Asera realize that his recent behavior was probably concerning his brother, seeing as he wasn't really the types to lose his cool. On the other hand, he wasn't normally faced with the probability of death or possession by temperamental entities in containment cells.

Asera sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly and debated on how to tackle this situation with Joshua when the PA system crackled above their heads, Hod's cheery voice announcing the arrival of new employees to the department. Usually, this is where the announcement would complete but there was the distant sound of papers shuffling, and she spoke again as the comm in Asera's ear crackled, cutting off anything he or Joshua had to say

A weird echo happened as the same message from the PA system played in his comm, static making his ears ring.

“Starting today, the Training team has a new Abnormality but, it's kind of dangerous so! I'll be assigning extra training to Asera, who will be working with it starting a month from now! Good luck Asera!”

There couldn't have been a worse time for this to happen, especially with his recent weakness and the fact that he isn't even remotely ready. Everybody knew that Geminiano was the highest ranking employee in the department, why couldn't he be in charge of it? Why did it have to be him out of everybody? He flinches as another bout of pain spasms through his arm, panic rising in his chest as he massages it blindly. The coffee in his hand rattled slightly and it faced the threat of being dropped.  _He'd been working at the company for only a short amount of time, the adjustment period was way too slow, the higher-ups were going to know how weak he was. Oh, gods, what is he to do?_

“You've got this.”

Joshua's words are the same as any, but Asera swears he can hear a slight tremble in them. But it stops him from shaking, even thougu it takes him a moment before he calms down. He still desperately wants to voice his denial and panic, but he knows better than that.

The coffee in his hands is slowly cooling, and he knocks it all back, scalding his tongue and throat slightly, bringing tears to his eyes as he lets out a harsh bark of a cough. Joshua seems mildly impressed by this, and stands up, stretching as his joints crack and pop into place. His boots have left a small weird organic mess on the table, and Asera wants to know what it is but knows it's against his better judgment to ask.

Joshua extends a hand to help Asera up, and he takes it firmly, pulling himself up and slinging his rifle over his shoulder once more, strap cinched to his uniform. He takes a shaky breath and nods, wringing his wrists as Joshua gives him a hearty pat on the back and proclaiming loudly about how the training team would have to “Watch out for the prodigal brothers of the company”, causing Asera to roll his eyes and smile despite himself.   
  
They would be alright.

 

 

Hours later Joshua finds himself back in the central training command room after shift, only to find Asera's sprawled figure on a couch in the back corner, mountains of paperwork scattered around him. They'd achieved the energy quota for the day almost 2 hours ago and yet here he still was, surrounded in research and past reports. A rare smile finds its way on Joshua's face, and he sets about gathering up the folders and sorting them back into their original boxes before carting them back to the office archives, humming in dimmed glow of the facility.

For the first time since joining the company, from his position on that horrible couch in the rancid facility, Asera _dreams_.


	2. 02

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 20.

Screams rang the air around him, permeating what would have been silence with deafening noises of torture and suffering. Corpses and dying agents lay wasted, some still struggling to hold onto what little life they had left. To his left, somebody whispered through blinding tears to their friend, who's vacant eyes turned slowly glassy

The air around him feels heavy, oppressive almost as if breathing it in could make him choke, but he breathes anyway. The air that enters his lungs is pure, as if he isn't breathing the same air that's around him.

It does not affect him.

Around the halls there was discordant noises of battle, furious screams and gunshots that rang through the halls. Abnormalities left and right, howling and piercing the cacophony with their inhuman noises as agents struggled to subdue them.

It still did not affect him.

His eyesight lay trained on the pristine wings of a butterfly that guided him along, almost pulling at him as if he was in a trance. Everything around him seemed like he was seeing it through a lens. As if he wasn't there. Nothing affected him and although he could touch everything around him, it was as if it wasn't the same way around. He trailed his hand idly against some blood on the wall, bringing it to his face only to see that his skin was untouched. 

The wings of his guide fluttered on, and he continued to be led down the echoing halls of the facility, each step drowning out the sounds around him more and more. He wasn't sure he remembered the facility being this big before his mind became fogged and for a second, the world seemed to tilt.

The walls around him began to decay, debris crumbling around him to reveal a tranquil forest. Behind him, the screams died into the sound crickets and wind rustling through the grass. Mist pooled around his legs, chilling him slightly and as if a spell had been broken, his sense began to come back.

Asera found himself standing at the edge of a meadow, wind at his back that pushed him slightly. Peering into the expanse of darkness, he could only make out luminous butterflies, beautiful and ethereally glowing as they danced, beckoning him deeper into the forest with promises of safety beginning to tug him away.

But before he could leave, a glimpse of a ghostly figure of a person in the meadow caught the corner of his eye. A misty ethereal figure, too undefined for his eyes to make out, but it drew him away from the forests edge. As Asera turned around fully in the pale moonlight, he felt his breath stop as he finally set his eyes on the scene before him.

In that moment of confusion and foreboding, Asera felt overwhelming despair and a longing to reach that figure for a reason he couldn't make out. He took off running, abandoning the thought of the butterflies. Running blindly into the meadow he saw light starting to crash down on them and he reached out, fingertips grasping towards that entity. Reaching for a chance to reach them in time before the light engulfed both him and whoever that was.

"Be careful." A whisper came from a butterfly on his shoulder. He didn't know when it got there, he hadn't noticed it landing.

"You have been warned." Said another from the other shoulder, wingtips dancing with unease as they fluttered mesmerizingly.

Vainly, he tried to reach out to the figure, something in his mind telling him he needed to reach them before-

everything shattered.

 

* * *

 

When Asera wakes with a start, he realizes a few things.

One; he had a nightmare with a really cryptic meaning and too much death for him to even think about. Two; judging by the smell of chemicals and machinery, he hadn't fallen asleep at home, or gone home at all. Three; not only had he fallen asleep at work, he'd fallen asleep with his head in somebody's lap. The latter was something he did not remember doing, as the last thing he did last night was sort past breaches and abnormality reports. He stirs, and the sound of china clinking is the first thing that reaches his ears.

Freezing up in surprise, Asera opens his eyes and stares into the equally surprised eyes of Mitanos. Evidently the Security Team Captain was about to take a sip of tea before he had stirred. He sets both the plate and the cup onto the small built-in table beside the couch, giving Asera a small grin as he lounges back. "Good morning! You're Asera, second half of the fabled Training Twins, correct? Or is it Joshua?"

Fabled Training Twins? Where had that come from? Asera tried to recall any instance where Joshua had called them that, blinking in confusion as his mind draws blanks. He figures its yet another name their nosy superiors had given them, as they were the ones who liked to tease them the most. He also tries to recall if there was ever a break room in the facility, let alone a hot water heater located anywhere. To the best of his recollection, he doesn't think he remembered seeing any, or anybody talking of one. So where the hell did Mitanos get that tea?

"I'm Asera, yes. Er, of the training team." His voice is quiet, scratchy with sleep and it's a wonder that Mitanos was able to hear him over the quiet early morning din of machinery. With another startled blink, Asera realizes that he's still frozen with his head on Mitanos' lap, causing his face to flush. Apologies for falling asleep at work, apologies for having a nightmare and apologies for still lying there like a startled goat all die out as Mitanos shakes his head and laughs at his expression. Asera feels his ears go pink.

"Calm down, you're alright! The facility is usually on all night, the higher ups don't care if employees stay here and sleep!" Mitanos chuckles, seeing the shocked expression on Asera's face quiet down. "As for the whole lap thing, you didn't have a pillow and you looked very uncomfortable. You would have been too sore to move this morning if I hadn't intervened, trust me." By the way he speaks, it must have been from experience.

With that, Asera realizes that some of the reports he read last night did have breach timestamps that went well after midnight, something he'd been too tired to really think about too hard. On the other hand, while he did feel a little sore, Asera found that he could move without complaint. At the time he had been aching from the physical work that day, breezing over the papers without thinking about much other than trying to retain the most vital information. With another shake of his head, Asera also that realized he hadn't even taken into account what the head of the Security team was doing all the way in the Training department. He was sure there were other break rooms.

Before he could ask however, Mitanos spoke first.

"Do you have nightmares every night?" he asked, soft gaze reverting into a look of worry, making Asera shake his head. His face was still burning with shame over the double embarrassment of sleeping at work and having somebody having to calm him down through a fitful dream. Mitanos reaches over and rights the delicate crown of horns perched on Asera's head and gives him a reassuring smile. "They don't last forever." Mitanos murmurs softly, a lighter tone in his voice as he watches the rest of the employees start to slowly trickle in, indicating that the day going to begin soon

This is enough to make him sit at at last, righting himself out of sheer embarrassment. Asera clears his throat and rubs the sleep out of his eyes, looking for the cart and boxes of archived reports, realizing that all of it is gone. The paperwork he'd taken out of the archives the night before have disappeared, cart nowhere to be seen. Yet he remembers distinctly that he'd passed out without putting them back in the first place. Mitanos couldn't have put them away, could he?

"Say Mitanos," Asera ventured carefully, "Did you recall seeing any papers here? And if you did, were the one who took them back to the archives?"

It takes him a moment to answer, mild amusement and confusion on his features but he ultimately shrugs. "When I came in an hour ago, there was nothing on the coffee table as far as I could see." Mitanos smoothly answers, picking up his teacup.

Asera just shakes his head and chalks it up to the lack of sleep he had last night.

While he's trying to think of else to say, he spots Joshua enter the central training department looking a little disheveled and sleep deprived.

Wait, Joshua?

Blinking, Asera realizes that this was the first night they've slept away from each other since buying an apartment together after moving out of their parents house. Which means that Joshua had taken that long and tiring train ride by himself, twice.

Regret bites at the back of his mind.

With a small wave, he tries to get his twins attention, wondering if he slept alright. They'd done everything together, this was the biggest accidental stressful situation he'd put the both of them in without realizing it. If Mitanos senses his distress over this internal conflict, he says nothing. Joshua finally spots him waving, and jogs over with a grin that quickly fades to confusion as he spots Mitanos and the rumpled state of Asera's uniform, paired with the sleepless look on everybody's face.

"I was wondering why you never came home last night," Joshua muses, tired eyes twinkling with amusement. "Seems you slept here the whole night! How did that turn out? Any weird dreams?"

For a moment as Asera looks up at his twin, he hears the distant sound of wings fluttering and the ominous events in his dream resurface for a moment. He feels himself falter momentarily, not willing to talk about his dream in front of Mitanos. Something in him tells him that he needs to tell Joshua about the vision in his dream at some point. With a small twinge of regret, Asera decides that he will have to talk about it once they get back home after work. As much as he wanted to talk about it right now, it would have to wait and he commits the most important details from the dream to memory.

"I guess it was okay," Asera lamely replies, straightening out his uniform self consciously. "I really would have appreciated sleeping at home better but I guess I got carried away reading reports. Which mysteriously disappeared last night?"

There's a blank look on Joshua's face before he bursts out laughing, stunning both Asera and Mitanos into silence. It takes him an awkward moment to compose himself, perching beside Asera on the tattered armrest of the couch. "I put them away! I didn't think you would have time when you woke up and I didn't think about how you would react waking up with them gone!" He's chuckling through his words and Asera rolls his eyes, relief flooding through him. Of course he would have put them away, it just didn't occur to him that Joshua would have stayed behind that long.

Before they can say anything further, Mitanos sits up and cracks his neck, listening to his comm as instructions from the Security Department Sephirah buzzes in. "This has been pleasant you two. Maybe I'll see you perhaps sometime when lunch rolls around." With a wink directed at Asera, Mitanos gathers his nowhere spear and teacup, walking away while humming. Asera waves goodbye and Joshua gives a noncommittal grunt, falling sideways on Asera who squawks indignantly before they wrestle, arguing about who was to do dishes that night.

The clearing of a throat makes them freeze up and they quickly stop fighting as they stare into the stern face of the Training Department captain, Geminiano. Despite the unkind expression, there's an undertone of amusement in his eyes, almost as if he was fighting back a grin. "I trust you two are ready to be on call? Joshua you're to be working with a few abnormalities from Command and Info so I suggest you get a move on." As soon as he says the words, Joshua's comm buzzes and he gives Geminiano a weird stare, unable to discern how he knew that. Asera knew that the orders usually got to the captain first, usually the day was semi planned for routine sake. The key word here being "semi-planned" because there was too many factors to even properly know the outcome of any situation.

Still, Joshua gets up and fixes his uniform and nods at Geminiano. "See you at lunch 'Sera!" He punches Asera in the shoulder lightly and ambles over to the doors to the Information Department before turning and giving them both a thumbs up, door closing behind him. Geminiano shakes his head and sighs, a slight grin already turning the corners of his mouth up. "Sometimes I don't know how your tolerate that brother of yours, Asera."

With a wry grin, Asera just shrugs and stands up, cinching his rifle back to his uniform. "I don't just tolerate him Gems, he's my best friend."

At this, Geminano makes a stunned face before throwing his head back and positively roaring with laughter, shocking Asera as he claps a hearty hand down on his shoulder. "Oh my boy I don't mean to scare you, but if Joshua is your best friend then I hate to see your worst enemy!"

Asera laughs.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so I've updated the tags as of 9;39 on May 20, 2019.
> 
> They will update as the story progresses but I need to warn readers that this is not a good story, nor is there a happy end.
> 
> If you wish to progress, welcome to the real hell that comes after this.


End file.
